Carrot Cake Cupcakes

I promised last week, when I shared my recipe for Cream Cheese Buttercream, that I would come back with my recipe for carrot cake cupcakes, so here it is!

I’ve made cupcakes as recipe testing is so much simpler using mini cakes than full-sized ones. It means I can make lots of small batches with little tweaks without ending up with far too much cake to eat. I made at least ten different versions of these cupcakes before settling on this as the perfect recipe.

I tried:

Plain v self-raising v wholemeal flour

Caster sugar v brown sugar

Cinnamon v mixed spice

Different ratios of each ingredient to get the balance just right.

Can these cupcakes be made as a full-sized carrot cake?

Should you have raisins or nuts in a carrot cake?

I’ve made my carrot cake cupcakes with raisins, as this is what Jon prefers. I like to soak the raisins in water before adding them to the cake mixture as this ensures they are nice and juicy in the cake and also prevents any on the top from burning when the cake is cooking.

If you prefer you could substitute in the same weight of chopped walnuts or pecan nuts, or use a combination of raisins and nuts if you like both.

Some carrot cake cupcake decorating inspiration

I couldn’t decide how to decorate my cupcakes for this recipe post, so I tried two ideas. This first uses little sugar carrots from Cake Angels. Be warned they look quite a bit redder in colour than they appear in these images, a slightly odd shade for a carrot in my opinion.

GOOD NEWS – They’ve updated their mini sugar carrots since I wrote this and they’re now a fantastic orange colour, perfect for carrot cakes!

For the other decoration, I’ve cut a thin slither of carrot and made it into a curl and then added the tips of the carrot leaves.

I asked in my Instagram stories which you preferred, and the result was pretty much 50:50 so I thought I’d share them both on here.

If you want to help me in choosing pictures for my recipes, then do check out my Instagram stories as I ask for help on there quite often.

Can you freeze these carrot cake cupcakes?

Yes, they freeze very well.

The easiest way to freeze them is undecorated, as you can pile them up in an airtight container and defrost them when you want to eat them. The cream cheese buttercream can also be made in advance and frozen, then used to decorate the cupcakes once defrosted.

If you realise you’ve made and decorated too many cupcakes and want to freeze them, then this is also possible. To keep your buttercream looking pretty I recommend putting them onto a tray and freezing for two hours. This will allow the buttercream to firm up so that it holds its shape. Then transfer them into an airtight container for longer storage. When you come to defrost them, remove them from the container so that as the buttercream softens you won’t find they all accidentally stick together.

Drain the water from the raisins and add the raisins and grated carrot into the cake mixture. Fold together until combined.

Divide the mixture between the 12 cupcake cases. Bake for 20 minutes. Check the cupcakes are cooked through by inserting a skewer into the centre. If it comes out clean they are ready, if not, pop them back into the oven for a couple more minutes.

Move them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Buttercream

Cut the butter (125g) into cubes and beat (either by hand or using a mixer on a slow speed ) until soft.

Sift the icing sugar (125g) and beat it into the butter until fully combined and smooth.

Check the consistency of your buttercream. It should be firm, but soft enough to pipe. If it is too firm, then beat in a little milk (no more than a teaspoon at a time) until you have the right consistency.

Pipe your buttercream onto your cupcakes and serve.

NOTES

❄️ Suitable for freezing - You can find details on how to freeze these cupcakes either decorated or undecorated just above the recipe.

If you would like to use a different style of piping on your cupcakes, then you may need a different quantity of buttercream. Take a look at the recipe notes in my original cream cheese buttercream recipe for other styles, and the amount of buttercream you'll need.

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Free From/Suitable For

The ingredients I used to make this recipe are all free from the following allergens. However, please check any labels carefully for allergens you need to avoid as brands can vary, and product recipes can change over time.

Suitable for Vegetarians

Tree Nut-Free

Peanut-Free

Sesame-Free

Soya-Free

Lupin-Free

The cupcake sponge is dairy-free, but there is dairy in the buttercream.

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Comments

Elliesays

May 17, 2020 at 1:02 pm

Best carrot cup cakes I have ever made and tasted. Thanks for the tip about the raisins as previously mine sank to the bottom but this time they were plumb, juicy and mixed right thru the cup cake. Thank you.